SocGen rogue trader fails to quash three-year jail term

One of the world’s most notorious rogue traders has been jailed for three years and ordered to pay back £4bn after being found guilty of one of the biggest frauds in corporate history.

Jerome Kerviel, a former trader at French bank Societe Generale, lost his appeal against the sentence yesterday.

The Appeals Court in Paris said he was ‘solely responsible’ for the losses incurred when he made £40bn of bets behind his Societe Generale’s back in late 2007 and early 2008.

Jailed: French rogue trader Jerome Kerviel lost his appeal against the sentence

These culminated in losses of £4bn, sending the bank’s share price into freefall. Judges upheld an October 2010 sentence of three years in prison with another two suspended. It also ordered him to reimburse the bank for its losses.

The charges were for breach of trust, forgery and entering false data into computers.